Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Boosts Stock Position in SkyWest, Inc. $SKYW

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in shares of SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in SkyWest were worth $1,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SKYW. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of SkyWest by 38.4% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 551 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of SkyWest in the second quarter worth $71,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 11.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of SkyWest by 32.4% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,935 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in shares of SkyWest in the first quarter worth $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

SkyWest Stock Performance

Shares of SKYW opened at $97.24 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $110.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.77. SkyWest, Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.70 and a 52 week high of $135.57. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.86.

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $979.95 million. SkyWest had a return on equity of 16.69% and a net margin of 10.62%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that SkyWest, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut SkyWest from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of SkyWest in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial raised SkyWest from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on SkyWest from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SkyWest currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at SkyWest

In other SkyWest news, insider Wade J. Steel sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.26, for a total transaction of $2,010,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 102,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,111,716.16. The trade was a 14.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Russell A. Childs sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.06, for a total value of $3,017,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 404,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,990,720.98. This trade represents a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 89,186 shares of company stock worth $10,440,398. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About SkyWest

SkyWest, Inc is the holding company for two scheduled passenger airline operations and an aircraft leasing company. SkyWest’s airline companies provide commercial air service in cities throughout North America with nearly 3,000 daily flights carrying more than 53 million passengers annually. SkyWest Airlines operates through partnerships with United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.